by Vince Vasquez
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Statewide & National
According to new statistics released Friday, August 21st by the California Employment Development Department, the state Latino unemployment rate rose to 12.7% in July 2009, a .4% increase from the prior month.
Hispanic workers in the Golden State continue to have a higher unemployment rate than the statewide average (11.9%), which reached an all-time high for the post-World War II era.
California’s Latino jobless numbers are slightly higher than the national Latino unemployment rate (12.3%), which according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics rose slightly from June 2009 (12.2%) and jumped more than 50% over twelve-months (7.5% on July 2008).
San Diego region
Among San Diego County’s cities with large Latino populations, the local unemployment rates continued to rise last month:
· City of San Diego - 10.3% unemployment rate, a .1% increase from June 2009;
· Chula Vista - 12% unemployment rate, a .4% increase from June 2009;
· Escondido - 10.7% unemployment rate, a .1% increase from June 2009;
· National City - 19.5% unemployment rate, a .2% increase from June 2009.
Notables
The Economic Policy Institute published a report in late July that indicated California Latino unemployment reached 15.7% during the second quarter of 2009, surpassing the respective rate for African Americans (15.3%). The Institute projected that the Hispanic jobless rate will reach 17.9% by mid-2010.
Monthly update compiled by Vince Vasquez, Senior Policy Analyst with the National University System Institute for Policy Research